And there you have it...

Oh dear - it seems that you can also embed websites into our blog! Well... the code is given again below but I've taken a < off the front and a > off the end so you can cut and paste the code. YOu may also see it if you scroll down on the embedded page in my other post.

iframe height="410" width="100%" frameBorder="0" src="http://www.techxplore.net/index.php">your browser does not support IFRAMEs

iframes

Here is a neat trick for Weebly... You can embed other websites within your own by using an iframe. Simply click the button for custom html code (along the top of the basic tab). Click where it says to edit within the box and paste the following:


Note the web address here... you will want to replace that (from the http: all the way to php) with whatever address the website you want to embed is. This is good if you want to include an article/blog/ video/animation...etc. I use them a lot for animations that another resource posts. It allows it to be visable without having to link out to another page but without "stealing" the file itself.

Key Logger

My old roommate liked to do his work in the kitchen of our apartment because his room was by far the coldest. His laptop didn't pick up our wifi very well there though so he tended to use the unsecured "default" wifi of one our neighbors thinking it was just someone who didn't know how to set the security on his/her router. Of the course of the year he had several hundred dollars charged on his debit card. The bank was able to refund him each time, but it was still a huge inconvenience that he pinned on bad luck.

He told a more tech savvy friend of ours about the string of debit charges. Our friend was able to figure out that it was likely a key logger that was installed over the unsecured network. It picked up the debit card information whenever my roommate shopped somewhere online. Needless to say my roommate started doing his work on our apartment's slower, but secured, connection.

FYI:  A particularly detailed analysis of Fair Use---especially as it applies to higher education--is at a webpage of UT Austin:

http://copyright.lib.utexas.edu/copypol2.html

The first section defining fair use also contains a paragraph with links to other excellent online resources, including the "Center for Social Media and Washington Law School at American University, whose Fair Use Best Practices statements" are described as having "informed a fresh approach to the subject."

Professor lost laptop with student grades

Years after I finished coursework in a graduate program, I received an email from the university saying that a professor from whom I had taken three courses had lost (or had stolen) his laptop.  The laptop contained years of course grades and other sensitive information, including social security and id numbers of students.

I was told that the files had been in a password-protected part of the computer, but that all students were being notified to take precautions.

It seems to me that it is a bad idea to keep sensitive student information on laptops or other computing devices that are transported to and from home.

In any case, if it is necessary to keep such info on a laptop (so that one can work at home on grading) then at the very least, all data from previous semesters should be removed on a regular basis.

It might be better to encrypt the files and transport them between the university and home on a device (flash drive, e.g.) that is kept separate from the laptop and which is less liable to be stolen.

I installed virus in my computer

Once I was trying to download a dialogue software by searching it in Google. I randomly clicked into a website claiming that the software was available.  I downloaded the software, installed it and returned surfing online as usual. It was not until the next day I opened my computer that I realized the computer could not open up. A message of “cannot locate files” showed up right after I entered my password to start up my computer. Obviously, I downloaded and installed computer virus embedded in the dialogue software. I then had to run the system recovery to get rid of the computer virus.  I learned a lesson that I need to scan everything downloaded online every time to avoid virus intrusion!  

Quiz is Fixed

Sorry for the delay... more Scholar problems caused the answers for the Copyright quiz to be messed up. I've retyped the quiz and reposted so you should be able to access it now. Please let me know if you have any trouble.

Copyright and Fair Use Quiz Issue

Hi Everyone, If you've been experiencing problems when trying to take this quiz, Dr. P. wanted me let you know that the issue should be resolved by tomorrow.

Data deletion

It's absolutely essential to back up work regularly. As an undergraduate, I was in a lab that met for 6 hours per week. After every meeting, we'd generally either store our data on a flash drive or email it to every member of the group. For some reason, we had forgotten to do this for a while, and my lab partner accidentally unplugged the school computer where we were working. This wiped the computer's saved files, and completely deleted a over a week's worth of data. We had to put in a lot of extra hours in an attempt to catch up, and we were lucky to have a very forgiving TA who allowed us to turn in our lab results a bit late.

USB Flashdrive Snaps in Half!

As an undergraduate I kept all of my work (previous and current coursework as well as personal items such as pictures) on a USB flashdrive. I was working on a poster that I had to give a presentation on that was only days away. I was in a hurry and quickly pulled the drive from the computer when the USB flashdrive snapped in half! Luckily I backed up most of my data the previous week, but my poster that I put hours of work into since the last back-up was gone! Not a good feeling for a very stressed presenter!

Breached Security

While teaching in a small rural high school, one of my colleagues had her laptop computer stolen by a student. She had failed to password protect the computer and the student was able to access all student grades of 5 classes and personal student information. Fortunately, the student could not keep secret about this feat and soon began posting the information to Facebook and the police were able to track him very quickly. However, the damage to student privacy was not to be undone and the teacher was reprimanded and transferred to another school.

My Friend's Computer

Personally, I have never had any experiences with viruses or breached security with my macs (knock on wood). However, my roommate hasn't had as much luck.  Last year, while on spring break, he brought his laptop home and allowed his younger sister use it.  It didn't take long before she opened an email with a trojan virus.  His laptop ended up losing all it's documents and even got to the point of not starting up properly.  Thankfully, when he got back to school, VT's tech services was able to retrieve most files and rid the trojan virus off his computer.  He has now learned the lesson to not share computers with younger siblings. 

Joseph Murray

New post

Feel free to start new posts using the New Post button in the top right corner. If you don't see it, you probably are not logged in. Use this blog freely and often!

Welcome!

Students,
You will use this blog to communicate with each other throughout the semester. I encourage you to post questions, comments, short-cuts, tips, etc. 10% of your grade is based on class participation, which includes your use and participation on this blog. Post often! You can also upload items and pictures to share. Just keep in mind that this is a public blog that anyone can look at (but only our class can post to).
Dr. P